Script to update daily note embeded on canvas

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1

I decided to create a canvas dashboard and embed my daily note on it to see everything in one place. Problem is, there is a new daily note every day, and I wanted the embeded note on my canvas to change to current daily note automatically. So I wrote this template for templater plugin with the script to update my canvas:

<%*
let canvasPath = "Dashboard.canvas"
let dailyFolder = "Daily/"
let dailyFormat = "yyyy-MM-DD"

let today = tp.date.now(dailyFormat)
let file = await app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(canvasPath)
  
if (file != null) {
  let content = await app.vault.read(file)
  if (content != "") {
    let data = JSON.parse(content)
    let nodes = data.nodes

    let node = nodes.find(n => {
      if (n.file != undefined) {
        return n.file.startsWith(dailyFolder)
      } else return false
    })

    let todayFilePath = dailyFolder + today + ".md"

    if (node != undefined) {
      if (node.file != todayFilePath) {
        node.file = todayFilePath
        let newContent = JSON.stringify(data)
        await app.vault.modifyBinary(file, newContent)
      }
    }      
  }
}
%>

If you want to use it, you must to add your own parameters:

  • canvasPath — the path to the canvas you want to update;
  • dailyFolder — the folder with daily notes;
  • dailyFormat — your daily note format.

This code must be saved in your vault as a template, then in the templater settings you need to add this template to the “Startup Templates” field.

Now every time you start the program, if there is a daily note on your canvas, it will be automatically changed to today’s daily note.

Keep in mind that:

  • if there are not any daily notes on your canvas, nothing will happen;
  • if there are several daily notes on your canvas, only one will be updated;
  • if the daily note is not created yet, you can create it by clicking on the canvas card;
  • for this script to work properly, your daily notes must be kept in separate folder.
13 Likes
2

Hi @reaty I’ve dropped this template into my .canvas and have it in my templater startup however the template just shows the code. Any idea why it isn’t executing?

3

Nevermind. I misread. I was dragging the template into my canvas and not the daily note. Thank you, it works!

4

Templater Error: Startup Template parsing error, aborting.
EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read

What is the error here? =(

<%*
let canvasPath = “Home Page”
let dailyFolder = “Jornada/Notas Diárias”
let dailyFormat = “DD-MM-YYYY-ddd”

let today = tp.date.now(dailyFormat)
let file = await app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(canvasPath)

if (file != null) {
let content = await app.vault.read(file)
if (content != “”) {
let data = JSON.parse(content)
let nodes = data.nodes

let node = nodes.find(n => {
  if (n.file != undefined) {
    return n.file.startsWith(dailyFolder)
  } else return false
})

let todayFilePath = dailyFolder + today + ".md"

if (node != undefined) {
  if (node.file != todayFilePath) {
    node.file = todayFilePath
    let newContent = JSON.stringify(data)
    await app.vault.modifyBinary(file, newContent)
  }
}

}
}
%>

5

The potential issue I see is at

let canvasPath = “Home Page”

You aren’t specifying that correct file name. You need the .canvas file type appended.
Try this:

let canvasPath = “Home Page.canvas”

You should be able to see the actual name if you right click on the canvas and then click Show in system explorer

6

This kind of script is exactly what I was looking for, however I’m getting this error:

Templater Error: Startup Template parsing error, aborting.
await is only valid in async functions and the top level bodies of modules

Any idea what could be causing it?

7

This error usually means there is some await inside of a function that is not async. But it is weird, because the is no such functions in my code. You didn’t change anything, did you?

8

This is amazing, thanks for posting this! One thing I did find with this is that sometimes when opening the app on mobile, it would clear my entire canvas when it tried to update the note.

So I just added a little check to make sure newContent wasn’t an empty string or something before it wrote to the canvas.

let newContent = JSON.stringify(data)
if (newContent != "") {        
    await app.vault.modifyBinary(file, newContent)
}

Just wanted to mention this in case anyone else was running into a similar issue!

2 Likes